Pamela Freund-Striplen

Pamela Freund-Striplen served as Artistic Director and violist of the Gold Coast Chamber Players based in the San Francisco Bay Area for 35 years. As such, she developed over 150 unique concert programs and three educational outreach programs. She also garnered awards such as Best Concert Series of the East Bay in multiple years and the Arts and Culture Award in Contra Costa County. At the final Gold Coast Chamber Players performance, the local mayor proclaimed that day as Pamela Freund-Striplen Day for her community contributions. Motivated by the social impact of her special projects like *Cultural Crossroads: Dvořák in America, Pamela is now focusing on taking this program to national and international audiences.

A passionate chamber musician, Pamela has collaborated with leading chamber musicians worldwide. She has performed with members of the St. Lawrence, Alexander, Escher, Ciompi, and Verona String Quartets and the Horszowski Trio. Pamela has been a frequent guest artist with the Amati Ensemble, performing in the Netherlands and Germany, including chamber music concerts for “Berlin Enescu Days'' and a concert tour of all the Mozart viola quintets. Pamela performed in Vienna, Strasbourg, and throughout Germany with the New European Strings under the direction of Dmitry Sitkovetsky, and later performed with the ensemble at the Seattle International Music Festival.

Pamela performed with the San Diego Symphony and as Principal Violist with San Diego Opera and San Francisco Opera’s touring arm, Western Opera Theater. She performed regularly with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, and on the San Francisco Symphony chamber music series, Chamber Music Sundaes.

After studying at Pomona College and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, she furthered her education with the Curtis Quartet in Philadelphia, earning the Young Musician’s Award in chamber music for two years in a row. Her late viola instructor, Max Aronoff, remains a significant source of inspiration for her. 

Pamela developed three innovative educational programs for local schools, Topics in Tempo, Sneak Previews, and Musical Mentoring, and maintained a private teaching studio for over 30 years. She was also the violin/viola instructor at Occidental College and Saint Mary’s College of California and the chamber music coach at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music pre-college for eight years.

*represented by Marian Liebowitz Artist Management.